The Bad Hair Bandit strikes again in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE - The Bad Hair Bandit likes Moses Lake so much she returned to rob a second bank.

A woman matching the description of the Bad Hair Bandit, walked into Sterling Savings in Moses Lake at noon on Tuesday and handed a teller a note demanding money, said Moses Lake police Capt. Dave Sands. After receiving an undisclosed amount of money, she took the note and walked out of the bank and escaped.

No one was injured.

The method was the same as the Bad Hair Bandit and witness' descriptions match the woman suspected of robbing the Key Bank in Moses Lake in April.

"It certainly appears to be her," Sands said.

The robber is known as the Bad Hair Bandit for wearing wigs in a series of 16 bank hold-ups that began in December in the Tacoma area. The robber also usually wears a hooded sweatshirt and glasses, sometimes a billed cap.

The female suspect is described as standing about 5 feet, 3 inches tall, white and heavyset.

The Moses Lake Key Bank was the twelfth bank robbed by the suspect and Sterling Savings the sixteenth. She robbed a bank in Spokane in May.

It's believed the same suspect robbed the Wheatland Bank in Ellensburg.

The Bad Hair Bandit is suspected of robbing 14 banks in Washington state and attempting to rob two more. The first robbery occurred Dec. 22 at a US Bank in Tacoma, according to Crime Stoppers. She robbed or attempted to rob six banks in January, two in February, one in March and four in April, including the Moses Lake and Ellensburg banks, one in Spokane and another in Moses Lake. 

There is a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and charging of the suspect, according to Crime Stoppers.

People with information about the Moses Lake robbery are asked to call Moses Lake police Sgt. Mike Williams at 509-764-3900. 

People with information about the other robberies and attempts are asked to call either the Moses Lake police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).